Tuesday, May 24, 2016

It Is Foolish To Worship Nature

This has been a millennium old
problem facing mankind. Who do we worship? How do we worship? Many cultures,
traditions, peoples have followed idolatry, believing that certain manmade
objects, that the created world around us is God, without understanding the
true relationship between Creator and Creation. The Created world is beautiful,
yes…but if we think that Nature is great…then we can only imagine how Great God
(the Creator) is. Let us not forget about the greatness of God’s wisdom and
love and appreciate this by the beauty of nature, of creation, all around us,
without making the latter a deity. In the following Old Testament passage from
the book Wisdom of Solomon (13:1-9) we see a prayer of God showing the
foolishness in regards to worshipping nature (creation).

Solomon continues praying:

1You are the living God. And only
those who are fools by birth could look at your creation and not learn about
you. But instead, some people worshiped the things you created, 2such as fire
and wind, and storms and stars, and rivers and planets. Those fools believed
these things were the gods that ruled the world, 3because they were so
beautiful.

But you are the Lord, as well as
the source of all beauty, so let those fools know how much more beautiful you
are than any of these things. 4And if anyone is amazed at the mighty power of
nature, then they should realize that the Creator is even more powerful.
5Indeed, the power and beauty of nature should convince us that their Creator
is even more powerful and beautiful.

6On the other hand, these people
are not entirely to blame for taking the wrong path in their desire to know and
to find you. 7It is to be expected that while searching, they would learn to
trust the beautiful things they were seeing. 8However, this is no excuse,
9because if they possessed the ability to examine the universe, why did it take
them so long to find you, the Lord of the universe?

About Me

I have studied Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Theology, International Relations at the University of London (Queen Mary). My Master's Thesis was published as a book: 'The Aegean Sea Dispute Between Greece and Turkey - The Consequences for NATO and the EU'. For more information see: http://www.akakia.net/el/the-aegean-sea-dispute-between-greece-and-turkey
I have also studied Byzantine Music in Athens and I am currently undertaking a research on the “Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius and its contribution towards Anglican – Orthodox Relations”, at the University of Winchester.
I also represent the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain at the A.E.C.A. If you wish to contact me you can email me: demetrifs1@yahoo.com